George Daniel Bahen (January 12, 1874 – March 26, 1895) attended Georgetown College, 1891-1894 and was captain of the Georgetown football team.
Born in Richmond, Virginia, George “Shorty” Bahen played right-half and was captain of the Georgetown football team. He was injured in the 1894 Thanksgiving Day game against the Columbia Athletic Club (C.A.C.) which was played at National Park, the home of the Washington Senators baseball team, at Georgia Avenue and 5th Street, N.W. The C.A.C. won by a score of 20-0 in what The Washington Post described as the "fiercest football game ever played in Washington".1 Georgetown President J. Havens Richards suspended all football on campus after the game and Georgetown students did not field a football team again until 1897 when intramural play resumed. Varsity play restarted in 1898.2
Four Georgetown players left the Thanksgiving Day game due to injuries, with Bahen the most seriously hurt. His family kept a constant vigil at his bedside. Friends from Georgetown College visited as did, to their credit, every member of the C.A.C. team after they had been assured by Bahen’s brother that he bore them no ill-will. Bahen died on March 26, 1895 and is buried in Mount Calvary Cemetery, close to the James River, in his hometown.3
- 1"Forced to the Coal: Four Times Columbia Crossed Georgetown's Line", The Washington Post, Nov 30, 1894, p.3, accessed through ProQuest Historical Newspapers
- 2Georgetown College Journal, November 1894, pages 20-22; Georgetown College Journal, April 1895, pages 69-70
- 3Georgetown College Journal, December 1895, page 29; Diary of Junior Division of Georgetown College, 1888-1900 (Georgetown University Archives)
